I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to animal feeders. More particularly, the present invention relates to hanging feeders particularly adapted for squirrel. Known prior art pertaining to the invention is classified in United States Patent Class 119, Subclass 51.01, 51.03, 53, 55 and 57.
II. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of feeders for wild animals are known in the art. Many hours of pleasure may be derived by feeding wildlife. Typical feeders include some form of hopper for storing feed, that is suspended from a tree or other supporting object, hopefully within view of the owner. Usually a perch or support platform is disposed adjacent the hopper for allowing an animal convenient access while feeding. After a well-stocked feeder has been installed for a short period of time, numerous target animals will periodically visit it for feeding. The presence of various wild birds, for example, within one's yard is highly desirable. However, other forms of enjoyable wildlife, such as deer and squirrels, can also be attracted by well-stocked feeders. Hours of pleasure can be derived from watching various animals that are drawn to well-placed feeders as they maneuver about the feeder and eat.
Many conventional feeders, such as wild bird feeders, are designed to store and dispense granular feed. A variety of wild bird feed, comprising a mixture of corn, various seeds and grains, is readily available for stocking such feeders. Of course it is well recognized that corn is highly prized by many wild animals, including deer, squirrels, chipmunks and the like. Although granular products are probably the most popular feed for simple wild-animal feeders, unshelled corn cobs are quite popular as well. Typically, during feeding, granular corm may be scattered about the feeder, and dropped to the ground haphazardly by various hungry animals. With granular feeders some of the corn will inevitably drop to a position on the ground that can not be easily seen by an observer. This defeats one of the major purposes of maintaining a wild animal feeder.
On the other hand, corn cobs are harder and slower to consume. Ears of corn cannot be easily broken or thrown and scattered about, so less food is wasted and dropped. If a feeder is designed to hold a corn cob, for example, in one place during feeding, the observer will have an easier time seeing and enjoying the animals.
However, feeders designed for corn cobs must be maintenanced often as corn is depleted. To minimize the frequency at which cobs must be replenished, some prior art feeders hold several corn cobs that are all freely accessible to the animal. While this results in a longer viewing period between restocking efforts, corn that is exposed to the weather in this fashion can rot or deteriorate from the combined effects of rain and time. On the other hand, if corn cobs are stored in a hopper, there is a difficulty in periodically conveying or ejecting them for access by feeding animals. It would be highly desirable to provide a corn cob feeder that ejects spent cobs periodically and reliably presents fresh corn cobs to the animals.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,746 issued to Burnham on May 20, 2003 shows a squirrel-powered feeder structure that utilizes energy produced by live squirrels to dispense feed from a storage hopper. The feeder is suspended above the ground from a tree branch or other structure. Feed, such as corn, stored within the hopper, drops to the ground to feed various wild animals including squirrels and deer. The feeder assembly comprises tubular feed container with a horizontal platform mounted on the bottom, a port hole for allowing feed particles to spill out onto the platform, and an agitating device that sweeps feed particles off the platform to the ground below. The agitating device is activated by the force generated by the weight and momentum of squirrels leaping back and forth from the tree trunk to the platform.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D337,861 issued to Ross Jul. 27, 1993 shows a squirrel feeder that holds several ears of corn. There is no hopper for sheltering the corn, and no means for serially feeding spent cobs as corn is eaten.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,178 issued to Lush on May 26, 1998 shows a wild game feeder that is suitable for squirrels. An upwardly extending member supports a block of animal feed.
No prior art animal feeder known to me is ideally adapted for slowly feeding squirrels with husked ears of corn. No such prior at feeder automatically ejects spent corn cobs, and self loads another ear of corn into position for controlled feeding.